This is a beautiful example of a very early Winchester Model 1885 special order Schuetzen target rifle manufactured circa late 1899. This Schuetzen rifle has several very scarce and desirable special order features. The 1969 dated letter states it has a 30 inch octagon barrel, Schuetzen set trigger with spur lever (no mentioned of engraving), checkered Schuetzen pistol grip stock with Schuetzen cheekpiece, Helm buttplate, no rear sight seat with mid-range and wind gauge sights. It also has the two-piece, early Winchester spur lever only found on the very first Schuetzen rifles. It has the early Winchester Tuning Fork palm rest on the forend which is also checkered on the sides to match the buttstock. The top barrel flat is marked with the Winchester factory markings of: "MANUFACTURED BY THE/WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS CO NEW HAVEN CONN. U.S.A." followed by "32-40" at the breech end. The barrel is fitted with a wind gauge globe front sight with the spirit level and the standard Winchester 1885 tang mount target rear sight, with no rear barrel seat as noted above. The pistol grip is fitted with the Winchester hard rubber grip cap, and the forend is fitted with the small, ebony insert. This rifle is in outstanding condition with excellent Winchester high polish blued metal finish with the very desirable color casehardened receiver, lower tang, hammer and breech block.

Excellent with 95% plus of the original Winchester factory blue and case colors overall with some minor edge and high spot wear. The bluing on the spur lever is thinning overall and the bluing on the Helm buttplate and base of the palm rest have both lost most of their blue finish and are now a silvery/browned color overall. The markings are clear and sharp. The stock and forend are both in excellent condition with 90% plus of their original factory varnish showing some very minor/light handling marks on the sides in a few areas. The checkering is also in excellent condition with nice distinct checking overall.